Emery won't stay long if Villa keep selling top players, warns Merson

Paul Merson has warned Aston Villa that Unai Emery will not remain at the club if its policy of selling top players continues, following a chastening 4-0 Premier League defeat at Brighton on the opening weekend of the season.

Villa’s squad has been gutted since lifting the Europa League trophy in May. Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers have already departed, while Emi Martinez and Ollie Watkins are reported to be next out of the door. The club did spend a record fee to bring in Johan Manzambi, but the overall picture is one of significant regression from a side that finished fourth in the Premier League last term.

The scale of that decline was laid bare at the Amex Stadium, where Brighton were four goals up inside 31 minutes. The afternoon was compounded further when summer signing Joao Gomes was sent off before half-time.

“I don’t expect them to go down, of course not,” Merson told Sky Sports. “But I don’t expect them to finish in the top half even with a top manager like Emery. If Emery’s not fed up with this situation, then he’s some person. This situation is very rare. We saw Spurs win a European cup and finish 17th. He won the same European cup and finished fourth.”

Merson was unsparing in his assessment of the club’s direction, describing the situation as “madness at the highest level.” He added: “We’re talking about a big, big football club that just got in the Champions League, won a European trophy — and then sold all their best players. I don’t see Emery hanging around for long if things continue like this. We’re talking about one of the top managers in the game, and everyone seems to be leaving him left, right and centre.”

Emery has been at Villa Park since late 2022, delivering some of the club’s finest Premier League finishes while operating on a budget considerably smaller than their top-six rivals. The Spaniard now faces the challenge of competing on four fronts — including a return to the Champions League — with a squad that looks considerably thinner than the one he guided to European glory just months ago.

Villa’s next test comes at home to Arsenal, a fixture in which Konsa could make his Gunners debut against the club he left this summer.